Harpies seal Magpie collapse

Holyhead Harpies - 940* vs Montrose Magpies - 770

	Harpies	Magpies
Keeper	Weatherwax	Wintringham
Chasers	Glossop (C)	Keitch (C)
	Gladstone	MacLean
	Birchgrove	McTavish
Beaters	Tolipan	Moriattis
	Gibberd	Ollerton
Seeker	Bloch	Abberley

For all the subtexts and intrigue of this match, it was only really one story that mattered. Could the Montrose Magpies reverse their sudden and astonishing form slump and salvage this season of promised glory?

For Amedeus Pagley, clearly the weight of ten consecutive wins still outshone the danger of three straight losses, for he still chose to make no changes to his well established starting seven.

But Harpies manager Gloria Gwestenak needed no convincing to make one change, with captain Gwenevak Glossop returning to the side.

If this match wasn’t already setup to be an absolute blockbuster, the fact that the teams met in a thriller just a fortnight ago added to the buzz. In the final round it was the Harpies who triumped, the second of Montrose’s three consecutive losses, 880-830 thanks to Zelda Bloch’s timely snitch catch.

This result, Glossop’s return, and that funny beast momentum, suggested that the Harpies might almost me favourites this Saturday night. But the Magpies wasted no time in putting any notions well and truly to bed.

Captain Royden Keitch continued to show a sparkling return to form. The aging Keitch had been the Magpies’ only genuine weak link during their earlier success, but when the going gets tough the tough get going and the gruff old captain was well and truly turning up now his team really needed him for the first time.

The Beater contest was dominated initially by the Magpies, with the Harpies’ further hamstrung when Mulciber Moriattis bludged Rohesia Gibberd to ground.

So the first hour was all Montrose, but as the match settled into its nitty-gritty, so the Harpies adjusted and charged anew. The Magpies’ best remains sheer unstoppable brilliance, but the effect of the last month has been mental. As Holyhead fought, without really taking charge or threatening to retake the lead with any ease, the Magpies quite inexplicably faltered, mired by nerves.

Zachariah Ollerton faltered pn particular, losing all aim and reason, turning the Beater contest firmly around the other way as Talulah Tolipan and the recovered Gibberd began to run the show.

With the decisive Beater momentum on their side and freeing them up from the unwinnable physical contest, the Harpies Chasers finally had room to move. A little room was all that was needed to open the floodgates.

The Magpies’ similarly devastating goalscoring form thankfully did not desert them and so they were able to tick the scoreboard over and cling to the lead by the skin of their teeth, but with each passing hour the match was leaning further towards the Harpies as the Montrose defence collapsed.

But it took the best part of five hours for them to finally hit the lead, but barely anybody noticed when it finally happened, for Alison Abberley and Zelda Bloch were hurtling around the stadium in an astonishing display of Seeker agility and speed. It was a pleasure to watch as perhaps the world, certainly Britain’s two most promising young Seekers warred.

But it was the more experienced girl who prevailed. Bloch’s catch took the Harpies to within one win of a Grand Final. For the Magpies though it was pure devastation, each player and fan fully aware that season 2012 was the one that got away.

Holyhead Harpies – 940* - Birchgrove 33, Gladstone 26, Glossop 20, Bloch Capture

Montrose Magpies – 770 – MacLean 39, Keitch 30, McTavish 8

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: TALULAH TOLIPAN (HARPIES)